Born in Vienna in 1753, the son of a rabbi, Bernhard Eskeles der Jüngere lived, to say the least, a full and accomplished life. Having been educated in trading and commerce in Amsterdam, Eskeles would in time become a financial advisor to the emperors Joseph II und Franz II, lending money to the state during the Napoleonic Wars. With Nathan Adam von Arnstein, he founded Arnstein & Eskeles; his sister-in-law, Fanny von Arnstein, was one of Vienna's great socialites and salon hostesses and introduced the previously-Protestant Christmas tree in the Catholic capital in 1814. His most significant achievements came in 1816, when he became one of the founders of the Austrian National Bank, later becoming its director, and in 1819, when he set up Austria's first savings bank or Sparkasse. Eskeles died in 1839, leaving behind an estate worth millions and having established a series of scholarships enabling students to study at Vienna's university.
Between 1820 and 1827, Eskeles lived in a Stadtpalais on the centrally-located Dorotheergasse. Though over the centuries the building has been home to many grand families -- Daun, Breuner, Sinzendorf, Harrach, Dietrichstein, Esterházy, and Kaunitz (to say nothing of Austria's one-time dictator Engelbert Dollfuss) -- it is Eskeles for whom the building is named, for it was during his tenure that extensive renovations of the Stadtpalais' interior were carried out and its salon became a meeting place for Vienna's great and good. In 1993, when Vienna's Jewish museum was looking for a home, the city settled on Palais Eskeles, and on its main floor, as I've previously written, you'll find Cafe Eskeles. Its co-owner, Nora Goldstein, invented its name-sake torte, a boldly-flavoured square with its clearly-defined layers of poppy seed, redcurrant jam, walnuts, marzipan, and chocolate. Chag Sukkot Sameach!
